Perception
by Trinxy
Summary: Series of oneshots that look episodes in various points of views. Flowers For Your Grave - Esposito has too much fun looking at the Caskett relationship on the side. Much more funnier than Shark Week.


**This is a fic about "Flowers For Your Grave". Not in the usual point of view (Caskett). But this is Esposito - who sees everything. **

**This fic overall will be collection of one shots in different point of views on the Caskett relationship and how others see their world. Lanie, Ryan, Esposito. Whatever comes into mind.**

* * *

Detective Javier Esposito is good at what he does. He loves his work. He loves everything that comes with it - the adrenaline from chasing suspects, the rush of energy when solving a crime. But when he is standing at the crime scene today, there's a group of detectives surrounding him. He can't shine alone, he needs his partners for that. One of them is Kevin Ryan, a bright young detective from Narcotics. Over the few years, the two of them have formed a bond of friendship and Javier trusts Kevin with almost everything. After all, you have to trust your buddy who has seen your crazy collection of PlayStation games.

Kate Beckett, his other partner, steps in, not even paying attention to them as they stand at the foot of the body.

Esposito smiles. That's Kate Beckett for you. She is hard-headed, driven and she never gives up when she is onto something. She is the most passionate Detective in the field, as far as Javier knows or has met. She is very good at her job and this is mostly the reason as to why Beckett has the superiority between the three of them.

For a minute Esposito and Ryan watch how Beckett circles the victim, trying to take in every detail with her eagle eyes. This is a sight to see. She is a true professional. He could certainly learn something from her. And he does. Every day he learns something new from this strong-willed partner of his.

But Beckett only has eyes for the victim in front of her. She crouches down beside the girl and asks out loud, "Who are you?"

Esposito chimes in.

"Alison Tisdale. 24. Grad student at NYU. In the Social Work program…"

* * *

"Ooh, she has him in The Box?" a cheery Kevin Ryan asks Esposito, who just sat down in his chair to rest his mind for a bit before he continues to flip through the victim's financials.

"Yeah," Esposito grins. "She just dragged him in there."

"Let's go watch. This has gotta be interesting," Ryan smiles, hitting Espo's shoulder.

Javier makes a disapproving noise, but he stands up and heads to the open door of the observation room, glancing back at Ryan on his heels, smiling all the way.

They both settle in the room, Esposito parks his ass on the table, Ryan just casually leans on the wall beside the glass.

_"... And every time the charges were dropped,"_ Beckett's strong voice fills the room as she steps closer to the author, Richard Castle.

_"What can I say? The mayor's a fan. But if it makes you feel better, I'd be happy to let you spank me," _Castle doesn't miss a beat with the tease. Beckett doesn't back off.

"Ooh, snap," laughs Ryan, making Esposito chuckle too.

They continue to watch the interrogation in silence until Castle manages to masterfully play with Beckett, making her blush and stutter. This has to be the first time either of them has ever seen Beckett flinch during an interrogation. This guy is getting to her. Something is different with Castle.

Suddenly, it sparks.

"Dude, she's totally a fan," Esposito laughs when Beckett starts to blush. "Look at her, she is blushing. I have never seen this. This is golden."

Ryan, at his side, laughs as well.

_"I'm not asking for the bodies. Just the pictures…" _Castle tries to put his charm to work, but Beckett has gathered herself enough to not let him to play with her anymore.

She narrows her eyes._ "I think we're done here."_

As Beckett heads to the door, the boys are on their feet as well, trying to catch up with her.

"Yo, Beckett!" Espo greets her as they meet. "Not the guy we're looking for?"

Beckett presses her lips together and furrows her brows. "No, I don't think he has anything to do with it. But we need to get a hold of his fan mail, maybe something will pop up there. He told me he would cooperate with us in that matter."

Esposito nods. "Yes. I know. We heard. Everything."

That word makes her flinch a bit, making her uncomfortable. "Your point?"

"Nothing… nothing. Let's just say, it was… interesting," Esposito grins.

"Mhmh. Very … informative," Ryan adds, chuckling beside him.

"Don't you guys have work to do?" she growls annoyedly and heads to her desk with the boys following her like ducklings.

* * *

Esposito is settled down at his desk, skimming over the last bits of the book he was forced to read. Seriously? Angry wiccans? He remains true to his earlier opinion - he wouldn't read Castle's books voluntarily. He doesn't need gore and violence after the days they have.

Suddenly a hand lands on his shoulder and he looks up. Ryan is standing behind him, his face full of glee.

"You'll never guess who is here," he laughs.

Esposito furrows his brows and looks at Ryan suspiciously. What could make him so excited? Is it some famous hottie? Then his face clears. "Some hot chick?"

Ryan's smile falls for a second. "Seriously? Can't you think about anything else besides hot chicks?"

"What else could there be?" Espo throws back, now smirking.

"No, no seriously," Ryan doesn't leave him alone. "Come with me, I'll show you."

Javier grumbles as he gets out of his chair and follows his partner halfway across the bullpen. He almost plows into Kevin Ryan who stopped without warning, but at the last second he avoids the collision by stepping to the side and hitting his knee on McNulty's desk.

"Dude," Espo whines, "warn me next time you're gonna stop like that. Owww…"

"Sorry, sorry," the Irish Detective apologizes. Then he points his finger at their Captain's office. "Check it out."

Esposito follows the direction of Ryan's finger and he realizes what he is looking at. He laughs out loud.

"No way."

"Yes, way," Ryan nods and laughs as well.

"Oooh, Beckett is not gonna like this," the Latino states, still laughing.

"You don't say?" Ryan replies sarcastically. "Where is she anyway?"

"She went to get Castle's fan mail from Black Pawn. She should be back soon," Espo fills Ryan in. "Coffee?"

"Yeah, could use some. Hopefully Beckett's back soon. I wanna see her face when she discovers that Castle is here. Whoo boy."

The two detectives head to the break room to make themselves a cup of coffee. It's not the best coffee in the world, but it's warm and caffeinated. Esposito finishes pouring that life-liquid in his cup when he notices Beckett exiting the elevator. He nudges Ryan who is busy pouring a cup for himself as well.

"There she is," he smiles.

They observe Detective McNulty getting up from his chair and asking unbelievingly: _"Is all that Castle's mail?"_

Esposito deposits his mug on the counter and abandons his partner to the break room to finish up his cup of coffee and makes his way out into the bullpen. Beckett turns around and sees him.

"Did we hear back from the lab?"

"Yeah. Scene was negative for DNA and prints - just like Fisk's place. Guy's careful," he answers, corners of his mouth rising as he quickly glances at the Captain's office. Castle is still there. Perfect.

"What about Tisdale and Fisk? Any connection?" she enquires, being unassuming and calm.

Right on time, Espo notices Castle turning around to spot Detective Beckett talking with him. A childlike glee forms on the writer's face, the corners of his mouth curl up into a smile. Here is Espo's chance to shine. He smirks. "Other than your boy there? No."

Beckett whirls herself around and her eyes widen when she sees Castle with her Captain. Her eyes betray her sense of panic when she looks back at Esposito. "What's he doin' here?"

Esposito can't help himself, he just _has_ to make fun of her. "Maybe he likes you?"

That earns him a glare from Beckett as the Captain calls her into his office.

He's laughing when he walks away towards the break room, Ryan meeting him halfway and bringing him the coffee he forgot. They both sit on McNulty's desk, earning a pissed "Hey!" from their colleague. Ignoring him, the boys watch the scene play out in front of them.

In the end, when Beckett passes them by - overflowing with fury - the guys can't help but laugh.

* * *

After Beckett finally calms down, Castle and Esposito fall into a comfortable chat while Beckett calls about the prints. She is still on hold and Espo decides to fry the author a bit.

"So, why are you 'assisting'," air quoting the word with his fingers, "us?"

Castle is taken aback a bit due to the direct question but he gathers himself quickly. "I'm just doing my part for the city I love."

"Seriously?" Espo replies sarcastically.

"Besides, it's better than being at home and writing. Sometimes I need inspiration to strike me…" the writer confesses.

Esposito takes in his words for a moment, then continues his interrogation. "You ever shot a gun?"

"Sharpshooting?" the writer asks to clarify what the Latino detective meant.

"Yeah," Espo nods.

But before he can form a more elaborate answer, Beckett interrupts them by hanging up the phone.

"Lab's got lifts off the letter," she announces.

"Whose?" Castle perks up.

"The system's backlogged. It'll take a week to run a match," Beckett mumbles, trying to concentrate on her papers.

Disappointedly, he retorts, "A week?"

Sarcastic Beckett surfaces. "Welcome to reality, Superstar."

Castle ignores the sarcasm and fishes out his phone. "Well, I never did much like reality." He hits speed-dial and almost instantly, someone is on the other end. "Hi Denise. It's Rick Castle. Is he in?" Castle's voice is smooth as honey when he speaks to the girl in the other end of the phone. He raises his eyes to Beckett and smiles smugly as he covers the speaker. "Like I said, Mayor's a fan."

Esposito watches the two of them interacting with wary eyes. Dude's got mayor on speed dial? Seriously? Esposito furrows his brows and shifts closer to the pair.

"_...You took off with that girl…" _ Castle saunters away, chatting with the Mayor of New York like he's a frat boy.

Espo looks at Beckett, who seems to be balancing a state of annoyed calmness, and chuckles. "Man's got the Mayor on speed dial. The rich really are different."

Beckett doesn't even bat an eye before answering, "You want him? He's yours."

"A control freak like you with something you can't control? No, no. That's going to be more fun than Shark Week." Espo teases while silently admitting to himself - he is having so much fun with Castle around. Much more than he thought he would.

Beckett smiles sarcastically and turns back to read the file. For the fifth time.

"OK. You will have your prints in an hour," Castle announces while sitting back down in the chair.

Beckett doesn't let him say anything more.

"Mr. Castle," she says flatly. Esposito can tell she's straining to keep her composure. Castle moves his chair closer to Beckett's desk and sits down again. Beckett leans closer and tries to explain in a failed attempt at whispering, "Half of the guys here are waiting for prints. You don't just jump the line."

Esposito chuckles as Beckett attempts to school the "bad boy" writer and how Castle sidesteps of her every move. Whoo boy, this is going to be a long day. Long, but also a good day.

Suddenly McNulty interrupts the banter. "Beckett. Midtown. They just found another one."

* * *

Esposito and Ryan are standing in front of the murder board and taking down the pictures, as the case is over. They arrested Kyle Cabot a few hours ago and now Beckett is sitting at her desk, finishing up the paperwork. Something catches her attention and she raises her eyes from the paper for a second to observe the guys.

"You know this kid was in and out of the system for years. Doesn't seem like he ever got the proper treatment until Alison Tisdale took over his case file. She's the one who got him the job at the diner, and her notes seem to say he was doing okay."

Warning bells start to ring in Esposito's head. Oh no, she is doing it again. She sees the mismatch in the files and she just has to investigate it. If she starts to investigate, it will mean another sleepless night for them at the precinct. He can't let that happen.

"Well, we can let the D.A. worry about all that now. Our job is done," he tries to convey his plea for her to leave the case alone. Ryan tosses the last pictures inside the box beside Beckett and starts to grab a hold of its handles. But Beckett stops him.

"Yeah. Hey, um, can you leave the box? I'll take care of it tomorrow."

Both of the boys share a look because they know what that means. It means that they'd better leave the precinct ASAP before Beckett puts them back work. Esposito walks to his desk, grabs his phone, wallet and jacket and makes his way to the elevator, Ryan right behind him. After the doors close and the elevator starts to descend, Ryan smirks. "Well, that was close. Do you think she will find something by tomorrow?"

Esposito snorts and nods.

"Knowing her, she'll have us come back in the middle of the night. So let's get out of here and get as much sleep as possible."

* * *

Beckett is sitting at her desk, reading the material from the Kyle Cabot's files when Esposito enters the bullpen in the morning. He groans when he arrives at his desk and notices what she is doing.

"Beckett? Really?"

"What?"

"Seriously? Beckett. Leave the case alone. It's closed. It's over. Let others deal with the stuff."

"But…" she starts but is interrupted by Ryan's arrival.

Before she can get a word out of her mouth, the Irish Detective smirks at Esposito and remarks, "She's still on the case, isn't she?"

"Yup."

Beckett groans. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Don't make your life harder, Beckett," Ryan offers a piece of advice, pulling the file folder out of her hands and placing it on her desk. "Go get coffee, relax and let's wait for the next body to drop, 'kay?"

She lets out a long sigh, but she doesn't fight with him. "Okay."

She stands up from her desk, grabs her coffee cup and heads for the break room. Esposito grabs files from his desk and goes to the copy room while Ryan makes his way to the men's room.

From the copy room, Esposito has a fantastic view of the entire bullpen. From the corner of his eye, he sees something and he turns his head towards the elevator. No, it can't be. What is _he_ doing here? Again?

Castle struts in and seeing the bullpen empty, he stops for a second. Then he notices Javier at the copy machine and walks towards him. He pokes his head into the copy room and asks, "Can I wait for Beckett here?"

Esposito only shrugs. "Sure, whatever."

Castle smiles, leaves him be and makes his way over to Beckett's desk. Esposito doesn't think much of it. After all, as he understands it, Castle is here to help them. What harm can he do? The case is closed, everything is done.

Beckett walks out from the break room and immediately spots Castle sitting behind her desk, shifting through her case file. She rushes past the copy room, raising Esposito's attention as well. His gaze follows her to her desk to see if she manages not to spill any coffee on the floor.

He can faintly hear Beckett's panicked voice as she runs towards her desk. _"What are you doing?"_

He then overhears Castle's completely calm reply, _"It's a novelist's habit to poke through other people's mail, check in their medicine cabinets…"_

Ryan finally joins Esposito in the copy room. Pointing towards the couple in the bullpen, he chuckles. "What's he doing here?"

Espo only shrugs. "Dunno."

Ryan continues to watch Beckett and Castle interacting while Esposito tries to finish up his copying.

Suddenly Ryan slaps his shoulder. "Dude, look!"

He turns to look and smirks at what he sees. Castle is giving her something. "He's trying to bribe her?"

Ryan snorts at that. "Possible. What… wait. Did he just kiss her cheek?"

Esposito nods, laughing. "Seems so."

"And she didn't flatten him? Wow."

"I know, Bro!"

The boys are extremely amused now, watching how Castle saunters off with his bag and Beckett sits in her chair, her face completely flushed.

"Oh man," Ryan mumbles in amusement, shaking his head. Esposito nods in agreement and turns himself towards the copy machine again, trying to continue the work at hand. Ryan shifts through the few files that Javier has managed to make copies of.

"That all?" he asks.

Before Esposito can answer they hear a shout from the bullpen.

"_ESPOSITO!" _

Espo puts down the files and peeks out of the copy room, finding Beckett rushing towards him.

"Go take the stairs! We need to catch that son of a bitch," she yells at them while heading towards the elevator. "He took some of the case files!"

"Oh shit," mumbles Ryan as they run out of the room, heading towards stairs.

When all three of them reach the street, Castle is already gone.

* * *

Esposito walks out of the men's room and brushes his hands against his pants to dry them. He reaches the bullpen and his eyes find the form staring at the murder board. It's Beckett. She has put all the information back on the board and is now staring at it. Oh no, she is still doing it. And Castle didn't make anything better with his remark:_ "But you still got the wrong guy."_

He strides closer to her, shaking his head. "Nah. Nah, nah, nah. Don't tell me he got to you."

She only rolls her eyes at him. "Please. He didn't get to me. She did."

Ha, sure. Of course he got to her! Why else would she be doing what she is doing? He rolls his eyes at Beckett. He isn't buying anything she says. "Who? Alison?"

"Marvin Fisk, first murder. Kyle knew him from the diner, and then he kills Alison, his social worker. And then he kills Kendra Pitney, also from the diner," she explains.

What's that gotta do with it? "So?"

Beckett explains further, her eyes jumping between the pictures on the board. Her explanation is pretty good. And it proves that his gut feeling was right about her and this case. He knew that she wouldn't be able to leave the case alone if there was even one thing that didn't add up properly.

"Well, if it wasn't him, then who was it?" he asks once Beckett is finished theorizing. Esposito still isn't sure if she should continue looking into the case or not. I mean, come on, the case is already closed, the suspect is behind bars. Why dig it up again?

Beckett is so sure that something isn't right, so she continues. "Alison's the key. She's the one that the killer is trying to hide."

"Well, as far as we know, she wasn't seeing anyone, and none of her other case files fit the profile." Esposito defends the evidence. Kyle Cabot is caught. It doesn't make any sense why anyone else would have wanted to kill her.

Strong headed as she is, she doesn't give up. "Well, somebody had to know something about her."

They sit in silence for a long while, Beckett straining to see something on the murder board that she may have missed while Esposito does the same. Some clue they might have overlooked. She got him thinking. They should cover their asses. Just in case. Failure in court is not an option.

"Maybe you should ask Alison's family," Esposito suggests. When Beckett turns her eyes to him, he shrugs. "If you think that Alison is the key for solving this mess, you should start there. Did she have any family?"

Beckett narrows her eyes and furrows her brows. "Only a father and a brother."

"It's as good a place to start as any," Espo nods. "But, I ain't goin with you. I need to finish up the paperwork on that Cabot kid."

"Right," Beckett whispers and nods in agreement, turning her attention back to the pictures. "I'll talk to the father first." She stands up, grabs her jacket and walks to the elevator.

* * *

They finally did it. Well, mostly Castle who was doing the heavy lifting, with his one bare foot. After Beckett arrested Harrison Tisdale, Castle was buzzing with excitement like a hyped up child around all the cops and detectives filling the scene, asking them all kinds of questions about procedure and what was gonna happen next.

Out of the corner of his eye, Esposito sees Beckett walking up to Castle and watches them exchange some words. He wonders if she is kicking him out of the crime scene area. That would be what she usually does. She doesn't like civilians interfering with the police business and Castle has overstayed his welcome.

Espo doesn't really hear what the couple is talking about, but based on the seductive look on Castle's face, he's trying to ask her out. Espo chuckles at the thought. Knowing Kate, she isn't going anywhere. She is not that easy. She may be a fan, but she would never fall for this guy's tricks. Yeah, she is good at this game, but Beckett is also by-the-book kind of girl. And she has paperwork to do

Oh... she is leaning closer to him. Whispering something into his ear. That's cruel Beckett. Teasing the man like that. And Castle even helped them catch the killer. Esposito shakes his head. That's just cold.

He perks up as Beckett turns around and starts walking towards him, probably wanting some details from Tisdale before he is transported to the precinct.

Seeing that Castle doesn't follow her, but instead turns around and walks in the opposing direction, Esposito is surprised. When Beckett reaches them, he has to ask with a pleased smirk on his face, "You managed to get rid of your tail?"

Beckett beams a smile at him. "Finally."

* * *

The next morning Esposito seems to be the first one of the three detectives to arrive at the precinct. He settles at his desk and starts collecting the paperwork from the case. This one is over now, with Tisdale in the slammer. It's high time to collect the scattered files from the desk and start to file them away.

Ryan is the second to arrive. He greets Esposito with a nod and a wave and also settles at his own desk, also starting to finish the paperwork, just like his partner.

After a long pause of silence, Ryan asks, "Should we clean the board too?"

Esposito shakes his head. "Nah. Beckett got us into this mess, let her clean up the rest of it."

"Where is she anyway?" Ryan muses.

"Dunno," Esposito shrugs. "I am not sure I even want to know."

Suddenly Captain Montgomery approaches the two of them and enquires, "Beckett hasn't come in yet?"

Both of the detectives shake their heads.

"No, Sir," Ryan answers.

The Captain nods thoughtfully. "When she arrives, tell her to come to my office. I need to talk with her. There's something's come up."

Espo and Ryan share a look between each other and Esposto promises to relay the message to their boss. With that, the Captain returns to his office.

"Wonder what that was about?" Ryan ponders. "Do you think that Castle messed something up and she's being held responsible? He _did_ ignore our rules yesterday."

"I have no idea," Espo answers, putting the last of the files into the box.

"You have no idea about what?" Beckett's voice comes from somewhere behind Esposito. The detectives whirl around to see Beckett standing in front of her desk, looking at the murder board.

Esposito smiles. "We have no idea what the Captain wants from you."

Beckett turns to look at them, raising an eyebrow. "Captain Montgomery wants to see me?"

"Yeah, he came looking for you, but you weren't in yet," Ryan states the obvious, making his partner sigh.

"Oh," Beckett's eyes widen. "Okay. I should go check it out then." She shrugs off her jacket and places it on her chair. She starts walking towards the Captain's office. "Can you guys clear the murder board?"

"On it," Ryan mutters under his breath. He takes a few steps closer to the board and starts taking off the pictures.

"Ok, I am done," Esposito places the last file in the box and lifts it up. He steps closer to murder board and places the heavy box on Ryan's desk.

Suddenly, Ryan smacks his arm.

"Dude. What's _he_ doing here?" he points at Castle who has materialized in the Captain's doorway.

Esposito and Ryan both forget what they were doing and pause to enjoy the spectacle playing out in front of them.

Beckett seems to be in an argument with the Captain. Then she turns around to see Castle behind her. The boys hear something like _"No, no, no, Sir"_ and the Captain's answer _"There's nothing I can do, Beckett. My hands are tied."_

Beckett whirls around and stands in front of the writer, asking him something. When she gets her answer, she pushes herself away from him, starting to walk towards her desk.

"_MONTHS?!_" she yells.

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Castle follows her closely, trying to calm her down.

"_FUN?"_ she turns around to shove a finger into his chest. "You think this is fun? Having a writer following me around, all other detectives laughing at me? No, this isn't fun! This is torture!"

Esposito grins.

This_ is_ going to be fun.

* * *

**A/N. So what you think about it? Let me know on reviews! **


End file.
